Colombian Peace Process Research Articles

From Cantonments to Settlements: Lessons for Reintegration of Former Combatants from the Colombian Peace Process

ABSTRACT Temporary collective relocation of former combatants in cantonments plays a vital role in Disarmament, Demobilisation, and Reintegration (DDR) programmes. Existing research emphasizes the necessity of implementing limited-duration cantonments to mitigate potential security dilemmas. The 2016 Peace Agreement between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC-EP) provides a unique experience, deviating from conventional practices by maintaining cantonments over an extended period, with some evolving into permanent settlements. What are the effects of this strategy on community-based reintegration? Drawing upon original data from interviews, ethnographic observation, and surveys conducted in conflict-affected communities, this paper compares two cases: a cantonment successfully transformed into a permanent settlement and another initially promising cantonment that ultimately failed to achieve permanence. This study argues that long-term cantonments contribute to community-based reintegration benefiting former combatants and receiving communities by maintaining internal cohesion, supporting the local economy, and rebuilding the social fabric in conflict-affected territories. However, specific conditions, particularly land ownership and security, are crucial for such a development. Without these conditions, long-term cantonments face the risk of being closed or relocated, threatening peacebuilding outcomes. The displacement of ex-combatants to other territories hinders community access to the benefits offered by the collective reintegration process.

Inclusivity in Practice: Patchworks of Inclusion at Multiple Tracks in the Colombian Peace Process

ABSTRACT This article investigates the inclusion/multi-track nexus in the Colombian peace process. It theorizes inclusion in terms of design principles and process dynamics, analysing how they are enacted at track 1, track 3, and at the ‘intertrack’ level. Through semi-structured interviews with negotiators from elite talks, Colombia’s national dialogue of 2019, and grassroots dialogues the article shows how the inclusion/multi-track nexus plays out in practice, spelling out challenges of inclusion on different tracks. It shows how active participation and space for contestation is challenging and messy to implement, not least in contexts of power asymmetry, and yet visible in several contexts.

Social representations of a group of ex-combatants on compliance with the Peace Agreement

Introduction: the peace process in Colombia, the signing of the Havana Treaty and its compliance, have been the subject of various investigations. Due to the long history of the conflict and the multiple attempts at pacification, the Peace Treaty represented an important opportunity to resolve deep-rooted social problems in the affected territories. Objective: the objective of the study was to describe the social representations of ex-combatants about the Peace Treaty. Methodology: a basic qualitative design based on observation, interview and triangulation of sources was implemented. Results: the main results point towards a social representation of variable polarity according to the specific points, the predominance of ideas and beliefs related to the construction of the future, a favorable appreciation of the transition and resistance related to the historical problems that generate the conflict. Conclusions: it is concluded that the representation of ex-combatants is marked by the idea that peace, as was the armed conflict, is a process that entails advances and setbacks.

The European Union's support of the implementation of the peace process in Colombia

AbstractThe Peace Agreement in Colombia signed on September 27, 2016 ended one of the deadliest armed conflicts in Latin America, which lasted for half a century. The agreement is an effective peacemaking and peacebuilding model because it tackles the conflict's root causes and the process is led by Colombians. The actors of the conflict perceived the international community and the European Union's support as extremely positive because it remained consistent, combined political and financial support, and supported Colombian‐led policies. The EU's support for the peace process is also an excellent example of a match between the Colombia's demands for support and the tailor‐made support offered by the EU. Moving forward, key challenges are for Colombian authorities to continue accelerating the agreement's implementation—instead of reinventing the wheel after each presidential election—and for the international community to continue providing consistent political and financial support while prioritizing empowerment of local actors.

The face of the government: presence and responsibility in the Colombian peace process with the FARC‐EP

AbstractThe face of the government is the interface through which citizens come into contact with and perceive the government via representation and face‐to‐face encounters. This article focuses on Colombian government officials in charge of delivering ‘peace pedagogy’ to explain to society the peace negotiations with the FARC guerrillas, before and after a polarizing referendum which narrowly rejected the 2016 peace agreement that sought to end fifty years of war. It builds on their idiom of ‘giving face’ (dar la cara), denoting the work of representing the government to society in face‐to‐face encounters and assuming responsibility as the government, and explores its resonance with academic and popular discourses about the state having many ‘faces’. It brings this idiom, and theories of the face, into the anthropology of the state, calling for the study of governments as discrete entities within states, and examining the way that a government's overarching character or ‘face’ is interactively co‐produced in the public gaze through embodied acts of representation by officials with their audiences, and intertwined with people's macro‐political opinions. It offers a framework for analysing government‐society relations, giving insight into how all governments ‘face’ society, and highlights presence and responsibility as key dimensions of this relationship.

Introducing the Mapping Attitudes, Perceptions and Support (MAPS) dataset on the Colombian peace process

This article introduces the Mapping Attitudes, Perceptions and Support (MAPS) dataset, which provides rich survey data from more than 12,000 respondents in Colombia. Our panel survey – carried out in two separate waves in 2019 and 2021 – is representative at the level of each ‘Program for Development with a Territorial Focus’ (PDET, for its acronym in Spanish), the most war-affected regions and those targeted for peace agreement implementation. We describe the sample and compare support for the peace agreement in MAPS to other recent surveys in Colombia, showing how MAPS reveals regional variation obscured in nationally representative surveys. Regression analyses illustrate how the panel data allow us to explore how and why people’s perceptions of the agreement shift over time. The MAPS data will enable scholars to gain insights into the microfoundations of peacebuilding over time and across space.

Possibilities and limits of procedural and distributive justice in complex conflicts: a study of the Colombian peace process

PurposeExtensive empirical evidence suggests that procedural justice (PJ) and distributive justice (DJ) are key success factors for achieving durable peace negotiations. This paper aims to investigate how complexity affects these factors and the outcomes in negotiations.Design/methodology/approachThe qualitative study is based on an examination of the peace negotiations that led to the 2016 agreement between the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia – Ejército del Pueblo and the Colombian Government. Based on document analysis, the authors examined in detail how and where in the process the principles of PJ and DJ were applied. The authors then examined the implementation progress after 2016 and placed the peace process in the overall context of the Colombian conflict.FindingsThe authors found that the principles of PJ and DJ were present in both the negotiation process and the agreement. The negotiations were successful and satisfactory solutions could be found for all issues. The complexity of the conflict is reflected in the limited coverage of the peace negotiations. Not all groups, interests and subconflicts could be included in the negotiations. This limits their contribution to a durable peace in Colombia. Conflicts that remain unresolved also have a negative effect on the implementation of the agreement.Practical implicationsFor conflict management, this implies that the negotiations should not be viewed as “one-and-done” but rather as a progressive, ongoing process. The agreement is only the nucleus for achieving total peace. It must be actively advanced and defended.Originality/valueThis study offers new qualitative insights into how PJ and DJ function in negotiations. It also establishes a systematic connection between PJ and DJ and complexity, introduces the notion of coverage and, thereby, opens a new perspective on the management of conflict complexity.

Machine learning application in the ex-combatant demobilization process on the Colombian armed conflict

This research explores the potential of supervised machine learning models to support the decision-making process in demobilizing ex-combatants in the peace process in Colombia. Recent works apply machine learning in analyzing crime and national security; however, there are no previous studies in the specific contexts of demobilization in an armed conflict. Therefore, the present paper makes a significant contribution by training and evaluating four machine learning models, using a database composed of 52,139 individuals and 21 variables. From the obtained results, it was possible to conclude that the XGBoost algorithm is the most suitable for predicting the future status of an ex-combatant. The XGBoost presented an AUC score of 0.964 in the cross-validation stage and an AUC of 0.952 in the test stage, evidencing the high reliability of the model.

Local Understandings of Disarmament-Demobilization-Reintegration (DDR): Former Combatants’ Perspectives on DDR in Colombia

DDR processes, the design of which follows technical knowledge produced by international organizations and programs, have become a standard way for addressing the process of armed groups’ transition from armed to civilian life. However, the components of DDR, namely disarmament-demobilization-reintegration, may themselves be contested at the local level. This study investigates this contestation through the case of the Colombian peace process, with a focus on ex-combatants’ perspectives. Based on extensive fieldwork in Colombia, this study investigates how and why former combatants contest DDR components. Former FARC members rejected disarmament and demobilization terms since they indicate an idea of defeat. They also rejected “reintegration” since, in Colombia, reintegration indicates a different process focusing on individual reintegration. Thirdly, many FARC members refute the term “ex-combatant”, arguing that the group continues its struggle in the political arena. The study contributes to recent research focusing on domestic understandings of international norms and practices in peace processes.

Ponerle cara y cuerpo. La violencia sexual en las negociaciones de paz con las FARC-EP en Colombia (2012-2016) desde una perspectiva comparada

The peace agreement that ended the armed conflict between the Government of Colombia and the FARC-EP armed group in 2016 was the result of a process of negotiations noted for its innovations, including those relating to the inclusion of the gender approach (Herbolzheimer). Among these, the treatment that the peace agreement gives to sexual violence perpetrated during the armed conflict stands out, recognizing the victims of this violation of human rights and denying impunity for its perpetrators. This article aims to analyse the process that led to the inclusion of sexual violence in the Colombian peace process by analysing, from a comparative perspective with other processes, the factors that promoted its inclusion, as well as the obstacles faced by the actors participating in the process and the influence that the existence of the agenda on women, peace and security had in this process.

Comics and the Colombian Peace Process: Neoliberal Discourse and the Risk of Revictimization of Displaced Peasants

This article explores how two comics published by Colombia’s National Center for Historical Memory engage with the ongoing peace process by promoting a neoliberal discourse. It argues that these comics are examples of narratives that focus on economic productivity to justify the peace process and restitution of lands. First, it shows how comics participate in the construction of collective memories. Second, based on critical discourse studies, it analyses the comics to trace the signs of the greater economic discourse. Finally, it underlies certain dangers of relying on this discourse to legitimize the peace process in Colombia.

Feminization of Female FARC-EP Combatants: From War Battle to Social-Economical Struggle

Women combatants of the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia-Ejército del Pueblo (FARC-EP) participated in the Colombian peace process at different stages, at the negotiation table, at the signing of the agreement, and in the implementation of the accords. However, the process of reincorporation into civil society also produces new roles that do not appear in the Peace Agreement. Once they lay down their arms, FARC-EP women want to enjoy all human rights and expand their freedoms. But the societies that receive them have structural flaws in the way they are treated. They are acquiring, adapting, or resisting gender regulations, not widely available in the armed group. Based on qualitative fieldwork, this research aims to expose functionings and real capabilities, in the light of dimensions of reincorporation. Further evaluations of achievements and limitations suggest that female FARC-EP ex-combatants face greater barriers, burdens, and gaps than their male counterparts. These refer to unpaid domestic and care work, and gender-based violence and discrimination.

‘We were not emotional enough’: Cultural liberalism and social contract imaginaries in the Colombian peace process

The 2016 Peace Accord signed between the Colombian government and the FARC-EP guerrilla was narrowly rejected by the public in a polarising referendum. This article focusses on government officials in the Office of the High Commissioner for Peace, the government institution in charge of peace negotiations, and explaining the peace process to society in an innovative strategy called ‘peace pedagogy’. These officials resorted to rational communication about peace and repudiated the accord’s opponents, whom they perceived as right-wing populists. They then self-critically analysed the referendum loss as due to their strategy being ‘too rational’ and ‘not emotional enough’. Drawing on the anthropology of liberalism, this article characterises these officials as ‘culturally liberal’: liberal ideology was enmeshed in their cultural worldviews, including a perceived binary between rationality and emotions, and a contractarian imaginary of state-society relations as above politics. This both contributed to the loss of the referendum, and confounded their attempts to analyse the result. The normative model of the social contract, enmeshed in real-world interpretations of state-society relations, thus creates inexorably political effects.

El impacto de la Resolución 1325 de Naciones Unidas y la perspectiva de las mujeres en el proceso de paz de Colombia

Without a doubt, the Final Agreement to End the Armed Conflict and Build a Stable and Lasting Peace of Colombia, signed on the 24th of November 2016 at Colón Theater in Bogotá, represents an achievement for Colombian women’s organizations and for feminist and anti-militarists acti-vists worldwide. This article aims to shed light on how this result was achieved and with this goal it will analyze the impact of the Resolution 1325 and of women’s perspective on the Colombian peace process. Supported by international legislation, the organizations of Colombian women lobbied the Negotiating Table to make sure that women’s perspective would be included in the peace process. Through the analysis of the changes occurred during the years of negotiation of La Habana and of the peace agreement signed on the 24th of August 2016 and on the 24th of November of the same year, this study aims to investigate what allowed to obtain such change during the years of negotiation and how women’s perspective changed the Final Peace Agreement.

MAIN AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION PROJECTS IMPLEMENTED BY EX-COMBATANTS FROM “HÉCTOR RAMÍREZ” RURAL SETTLEMENT LOCATED IN LA MONTAÑITA, COLOMBIA

This paper analyzed the importance of productive projects in the reintegration process of ex-combatants of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), in the rural settlement “Héctor Ramírez” located in Caquetá, after the signing of the Colombian peace process in 2017. In this regard, the research was characterized by being a descriptive study as a qualitative approach, using the semi-structured interview as a data collection instrument applied to ex-combatants to recognize their expectations about the productive projects that they have been developing in the camp. It was found that ex-combatants reinvest the earnings received in productive projects to achieve, under their criteria, possibilities of growth and financial return for the long term. In addition, they hope that the Colombian government will support the improvement of the commercialization processes of the products generated in the different projects. In this way, the standards of well-being at the personal and community level will be improved.

Gender and the Colombian Peace Process

Colombia’s decades-long internal conflict seemingly came to a close in 2012 when the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) declared their intent to engage in peace talks. In this transitional justice period, Colombia aimed to effectively address all the violations that had occurred during the conflict by holding them accountable within its Peace Agreement - including gender-based violations (GBV). This essay will examine the ways in which Colombia’s most recent peace process tackles conflict-related GBV in order to study whether these violations were sufficiently and appropriately addressed. The first section of this essay will define gender-based violations and examine how they have been addressed in transitional justice literature so far. The second section will evaluate how successfully Colombia’s peace process handles GBV by (a) studying the inclusion of gender perspectives in the peace process and by (b) analysing how the 2016 Peace Agreement provides for (i) truth, (ii) justice, (iii) reparations and (iv) guarantees of non-repetition in terms of GBV. In doing so, this article hopes that academic literature, the international community, and other peace processes can use Colombia’s take on gender-based violations as a guide - on what to do well and what to do better – so that the recognition of and protection from GBV is only increased here on out.
 
 Keywords: SGBV, Colombia, transitional justice, gender

Framing the Colombian Peace Process: Between Peace and War Journalism

ABSTRACT This bilingual, cross-national study analyzes stories about the Colombian peace process that were engaged with on social media to understand the use of peace and war framing in news reporting. Using content analysis as a method, this paper operationalized Galtung’s classification of peace journalism and follows framing methodological adjustments and improvements suggested by previous peace journalism scholars. Results show that, even during peace talks, media use war narratives more often than peace frames, and social media users amplify more war than peace-oriented content. Proximity to conflict also was shown to be an important factor, as Colombian media used more war frames than foreign media. These findings are relevant for their implications about how national media consistently emphasized a war frame that social media users amplified, which we argue has implications for how citizens viewed the Colombian peace process, ultimately potentially influencing the decision to vote down the referendum.

Complicating difficult heritage and the politics of institutionalized memory in post-Accord Colombia

ABSTRACT The Colombian peace process with the insurgent group FARC-EP has been characterized by a lack of compliance and the politicization of peace and memory including the work of sites of memory and peace. Through complicating the European-focused concept of difficult heritage, this article presents the interventions of three museum curators and/or directors of the country’s key centralized memory and peace institutions: the Memory House Museum in Medellin, the Memory Centre for Peace and Reconciliation in Bogotá and the National Centre for Historical Memory in Bogotá. Based on interviews undertaken between late 2019 and early 2020, this article reveals how those in charge of these institutions negotiate the lines between the politicization of memory and the ‘alive memories’ of civil society, due to the ongoing conflict. Bringing together key debates on difficult heritage and Latin American memory studies, this article seeks to contribute to Southern understandings of critical heritage and museum studies.

Doing memory with needle and thread: narrating transformations of violent conflict

The two authors embark on a conversation about how textiles open up space for different kinds of storytelling — understood as central to interpretive research — about violence, memory and transformation in the aftermath of armed conflict. They draw on their respective research and experiences in the context of the armed conflict and fragile peace process in Colombia, where Roxani investigates the politics and hierarchies of victimhood, and Berit is involved in a project that combines narrative practice and textile narratives into a methodology to explore former guerrilla combatants’ subjectivities and wider society’s resonances to their preferred stories. Photos of textiles and textile-making accompany their conversation.

U.S. strategies for Colombia: the difference in the approaches of the administrations of D. Trump and J. Biden

The article analyses the strategies of the US State Department for Colombia during the administrations of Donald Trump (2017-2021) and Joseph Biden (2021 – present). Based on a comparison of documents, the author highlights such innovations as the significant place given to the issues of the climate agenda, the maintenance of the peace process in Colombia, the emergence of countering the influence of external actors in the republic as priority goals and ensuring Colombia's leadership in matters of common global and regional priorities of the Western Hemisphere.